Countertops - Plano,TX

We have quartz countertops with tile backsplash and love it! We had it done about 5 years ago, and have been extremely pleased. It's very similar to granite in cost and appearance. It doesn't have to be sealed, and it won't crack. My mom has corian, and I think it's beautiful, but she isn't happy with it at all. She has had it for about 6 years, and is getting ready to replace it with granite or quartz. She says it's all scratched up, but I think it looks fine.

We have Corian countertops and we love them. They were about $66 a square foot. There are five (I think) price levels for Corian. Leave it to me to fall in love with a more expensive pattern! I think the cheapest price level is around $30 a square foot. Home Depot has a contract with a local installation company. They call you to set up a time to come and measure the area you need. They come and make a template and then about 6 weeks later, they come back and install the countertops. Installation is pretty hassle-free. Corian requires very little upkeep. Our kids are ROUGH on our countertops and they still look good, three years post-installation. I think for about $300 or, Corian can be resurfaced to buff out scratches and it looks as good as new. Hope that helps.

We've had both granite and quartz (Cesarstone, sp?). I prefer the quartz, personally. Unlike the granite, quartz doesn't stain and doesn't need to be sealed periodically. About the same price for a slab. My parents had Corian in their kitchen and didn't like it... Good luck!

My realtor had laminate counter tops in her house - they had a pale wood side and some neutral looking top and they looked beautiful in her large kitchen.

We have soapstone in our kitchen (which is small, and we did the cabinets ourselves). All you do for upkeep is put mineral oil on it once a month. Depending on how you have the sides cut, and how you keep it up, it can look modern or rustic.

have fun!

I have a Corian-type counter (not the brand name) and it's great. Scratches a bit, but you can't really see the scratches. I know someone who had granite countertops and though they looked beautiful, she set a towel down before setting a glass bowl down because she was afraid they would break if she set them down too hard. She swore she'd never do granite again.

It really depends on what you want out of it. The cheapest is to go with a regular laminate counter top. Going from there you will find laminate tiles that look like higher end products, those are actually less durable than the plain old plain since the gaps will allow water in and ruin them.

So then there is tiles, grout is not easy to clean and will have to be cleaned daily.

Then there are granite tiles that are not meant to have large cracks to grout.

Then you have your high end products like granite, corian and all the new ones.

Pick your poison, really budget is what will determine what you do.

We will be putting in Granite but we are also making the cabinets ourselves to give you an idea of our level of expertise. I don't consider Granite difficult to self-install but some do.

We put in Silestone about 7 years ago, and I could not be more pleased. Nothing with hurt it. No stains, scratches, etc.

Check out http://www.flagshipgranite.com. They do a great job for a low cost!

We have Corian and LOVE them! They came with the house that we built 3 years ago and we have no complaints. My parents also have Corian and they just put them in last December.

(As I said in my other response, I had Granite Transformations come do our house a few years ago and am still very happy with them. Good luck!)

call sergio at ###-###-#### he can give you a great price and the price includes installation and everything

If you like the look of Granite, but can't afford slabs, my husband (as Jo G pointed out as an option) put in granite tiles on our countertops. Using a clear sealant between the tiles you push them right up to one another with no grout line and level them out.
extremely inexpensive and they have held up beautifully. the one thing I hate is little crumbs can get caught in the divit between tiles, but a more intense wipe and they come right out.
Upkeep is same with periodic sealing, etc.
We went to a surpluss store for our tiles to further increase savings.

We put in granite about 5 years ago and LOVE it! Super easy to clean and always looks beautiful! I think we paid about $2500. We also bought a new sink that goes under the counter. You don't want your sink edges over the you of the counter. They came out to measure and we had to take all our counters off so they could draw the template. We just set the tops back on for the 2 weeks (or what ever it was) until the new counters arrived. Could not be happier. We ended up doing granite for the bar & counter in our basement because we have been so pleased in our kitchen.

I recently talked to my sister about this who used to work in retail for carpet, tile, etc....

She had a few recommendations. First, she recently redid her kitchen and has tile on the countertops. I'm not a big fan of everything being tile so not sure I want to go this route. She said the new Corian countertops and another comparable brand are really nice. There is also Granite tile.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what other people say as I haven't had actual experience with either of the above.